Come August and the campus atmosphere seems full of activity with students taking sides and charting out election strategies. In the first glance, you can guess, its election fever around. Right from near the gate till you reach your respective campus nest, be it the classroom or the Coffee house, you find self styled leaders from various parties approaching you for your vote, making you feel, “is my voice that indispensable?” You can almost make a collection of stickers and posters by the end of the election if you ever had the offbeat hobby. Welcome to the debatable world of Student Elections.
A wide majority of population at colleges who accept those stickers, posters, requests and calls from all political parties as they walk into their campus know well that they will be staying away on the V-Day. There is no urge to step into politics as they are happy being detached from it. The student elections hold no significance for them. Is something really going to change? Should I really poke my nose into this spoilsport? Has anything really changed till date? Where is the electricity that the last election campaign promised us? Why should I get dirty? These are the questions that stem up in the mind of a spectator, a fence sitter. In a sense, they are right in their own way. Try motivating them!
These students will tell you that there has always been an ugly side associated with Student Campaigning, where money and muscle power reigns. The Lyngdoh committee code for student elections has made it mandatory that no leader should exceed the Rs 5000 limit while campaigning. Moreover, the walls of the campus cannot be defamed with stickers. When people accuse Mr. Amar Singh of coughing up money from influential businessmen for campaigning purposes, what can one say to the student leaders.’ There is a crack for every rule, as we know. Be it in the ceasefire, where Pakistan attacks India or be it in the student elections where the space on walls is optimally utilized, violations have been common and regular. There have been conspiracies, gunshots, killings, violence, mayhem and discord in politics too, adding insult to the tradition.
Where is the Need
Student elections have been a prominent debate in Universities and colleges across India. The UGC has been a strong endorser of political activities and student representation on the campus. The Lyngdoh committee too studied this issue and felt a strong need for student representation on the campus. Moreover, the Indian constitution guarantees every citizen the freedom to form associations or unions and the freedom of speech and expression. Disallowing student elections would only be the biggest violation of the fundamental rights of the Indian constitution, as good as blasphemy. A UGC report in 1981 says, “Political activities in the Universities is natural because the university is a community of thinking people, of those who are exploring the frontiers of knowledge and of those who criticize and evaluate every idea before accepting it. Our democratic tradition, and now the constitution, ensures fundamental rights to all citizens, which include freedom of speech and thought, and freedom of association. Teachers and a section of students are not only voters but they can also be candidates in local, state or parliamentary elections. We, therefore, see nothing wrong in political parties being active on the campuses of our universities. Presentation of and debates about different ideologies and plans and perspective of national development are to be welcomed and political activity directed towards this end would be wholesome for the growth of the universities.” Moreover, for the pro-election students they see it as an opportunity to represent, to lead and to nurture their leadership qualities. Some also see it as a way to address grievances or a social cause. It also provides an awesome opening into the world of politics, just as crucial for a politician as work experience for an MBA is.
Digging for a solution
As a rational human being, you would agree when i say that student elections are a means to address grievances in several areas and offer the best to the students. Leadership opportunities and political authority is only the bi-products of this cause. The question is, “can we do away with student elections?” Let’s take a close look into the schooling system. Did we ever have student elections in schools? Why not? Schooling is unique in a manner that the teacher and the student have a personal touch. There are several schools across the country where this personal touch helps students to spell their problems to the teacher. The teacher in turn notes them down and puts them in front of the principal at the weekly meeting. Infact, several Principal’s are approachable straight away. There is no need for a channel at times. You can approach them with your grievances directly and the result; you come to a compromise or get a practical solution. The chapter is shut.
On the contrary, in colleges and universities there are large number of students and professionals and the kind of personal touch, they once enjoyed is altogether missing. However, there are meetings between the Principal and the teachers of the college regularly. If the Principal asks all teachers to get complaints from students and looks into them through a special committee, this problem can be solved in a smoother manner. You can always have suggestion boxes on the campus and a grievance cell for quick redressal. Problems and difficulties of students can be mailed, posted or dropped into these complaint boxes assording to convenience. If it is a matter relating to the University, the Principals and the grievance cell members can meet the Vice Chancellor and the concerned university authorities and come to a common solution. Clean, impartial, convenient, transparent and a professional approach like this can work wonders. The boycott methodology will only become a thing of the past if this approach is adopted.
However, there are several universities where the management itself has complaints where teachers and management are at a tiff anf there is disparity bwtween them due to salary or pension concerns. The question is, When the management itself has problems unaddressed, how can we expect the students’ grievances to be solved? Moreover, apathy and indifference is another problem today. So, Can we do away with student elections? I would say, Yes, but with a circumspect disclaimer; “only if the management is sensitive!”
